Diary of William Walker, prospector from Boston, Massachusetts (September 10, 1849, Library of Congress)
"Mon. Sep. 10th- We arrived at Bear River in the afternoon, where we found a large number of emigrants engaged in digging and washing gold. The method of opperation was very simple: one man dug the earth and put it into a seive attached to a cradle which a second man washed rocked and poured water upon after sufficiently washing the earth it passed thro' the seive in to the bottom of the cradle which is open at one end where it passes out leaving only particles of gold and black sand in the bottom.. In the seive remains particles of rocks roots &c which are thrown away. After washing a sufficient quantity of earth (generally from 20 to 50 pansful) the contents of the cradle are put into a pan washed: Which opperation is performed by dipping the pan in the water and shaking and stirring it to keep the contents loose and pouring the water off, which repeated untill the sand is all floated off with water; the gold being much heavier soon deposits itself in the bottom of the pan. An experienced hand will perform this opperation in 10 minutes without loosing a particle of gold. The amount thus collected by the miners on Bear River was from four to sixteen and sometimes even Fifty dollars per day, each, according to the luck of the miner. Provisions were very high here Flour $40. per hundred, Pork and Bacon $1. per lb. and other things in proportion Gold-rockers were worth $40. Shovels $10. Picks $10. and so on."
Letter on mining life from Prospector Elijah Spooner to his wife (April 21, 1850, Library of Congress)
". . . this gold digging is all a lottery business, except the labor part of it. We thought we had some eight or ten hundred dolls secured at the last writing, but we have worked it out, and got only about half that amount. And now the next thing {begin inserted text}is{end inserted text} pros- pecting for another place, in the bottom of every creek far and near for days, and perhaps for weeks, until a promising location is found The labor as I have previously observed is enormously hard. And I am satisfied that none but iron constitutions can endure it without in-jury Every years hard labor here in the mines, I believe will increase the apparent age of men generally, from five to ten years. This fact is seen in almost every mans countenance: and my own feelings bear witness to it And there are thousands here now, to say nothing of thousands on the way, that will not earn enough {begin inserted text}above their expenses{end inserted text} to carry themselves home, during a years residence."
"Dear Parents Brothers and sisters . . . I am now in the same place I was in last summer I am onely making small wages a great many are hardly making board there is a great difference between the times now and this time last year I am getting tiard of mineing and think this winter will about finish my mineing . . . The emigrants that are coming in this fall will be apt to have a hard time of it People will learn after while that evry man that comes to Cal does not make a fortune. This country is fast getting filled up with Chinamen They are coming by thousands all the time The miners in a great many plases will not let them work The miners hear drove off about 200 Chinamen about two weeks ago but they have com back about as thick as ever (I would not help drive them off as I thought they had no rite to drive them)"
Images
Ships in San Francisco Harbor in 1851. (Library of Congress)
A.D.O. Browere, The Lone Prospector, 1853. For more Art of the Gold Rush visit: http://museumca.org/goldrush/art.html
Primary Source Documents
- Diary of William Walker, prospector from Boston, Massachusetts (September 10, 1849, Library of Congress)
"Mon. Sep. 10th- We arrived at Bear River in the afternoon, where we found a large number of emigrants engaged in digging and washing gold. The method of opperation was very simple: one man dug the earth and put it into a seive attached to a cradle which a second man washed rocked and poured water upon after sufficiently washing the earth it passed thro' the seive in to the bottom of the cradle which is open at one end where it passes out leaving only particles of gold and black sand in the bottom.. In the seive remains particles of rocks roots &c which are thrown away. After washing a sufficient quantity of earth (generally from 20 to 50 pansful) the contents of the cradle are put into a pan washed: Which opperation is performed by dipping the pan in the water and shaking and stirring it to keep the contents loose and pouring the water off, which repeated untill the sand is all floated off with water; the gold being much heavier soon deposits itself in the bottom of the pan. An experienced hand will perform this opperation in 10 minutes without loosing a particle of gold. The amount thus collected by the miners on Bear River was from four to sixteen and sometimes even Fifty dollars per day, each, according to the luck of the miner. Provisions were very high here Flour $40. per hundred, Pork and Bacon $1. per lb. and other things in proportion Gold-rockers were worth $40. Shovels $10. Picks $10. and so on."- Letter on mining life from Prospector Elijah Spooner to his wife (April 21, 1850, Library of Congress)
". . . this gold digging is all a lottery business, except the labor part of it. We thought we had some eight or ten hundred dolls secured at the last writing, but we have worked it out, and got only about half that amount. And now the next thing {begin inserted text}is{end inserted text} pros- pecting for another place, in the bottom of every creek far and near for days, and perhaps for weeks, until a promising location is found The labor as I have previously observed is enormously hard. And I am satisfied that none but iron constitutions can endure it without in-jury Every years hard labor here in the mines, I believe will increase the apparent age of men generally, from five to ten years. This fact is seen in almost every mans countenance: and my own feelings bear witness to it And there are thousands here now, to say nothing of thousands on the way, that will not earn enough {begin inserted text}above their expenses{end inserted text} to carry themselves home, during a years residence."- Letter on Chinese miners and hostilities they faced in 1852, from Robert Pitkin (1852, Library of Congress)
"Dear Parents Brothers and sisters . . . I am now in the same place I was in last summer I am onely making small wages a great many are hardly making board there is a great difference between the times now and this time last year I am getting tiard of mineing and think this winter will about finish my mineing . . . The emigrants that are coming in this fall will be apt to have a hard time of it People will learn after while that evry man that comes to Cal does not make a fortune. This country is fast getting filled up with Chinamen They are coming by thousands all the time The miners in a great many plases will not let them work The miners hear drove off about 200 Chinamen about two weeks ago but they have com back about as thick as ever (I would not help drive them off as I thought they had no rite to drive them)"Images
Videos
Political Cartoons
Articles
"The Discovery of Gold in California" by General John A. Sutter"Excitement and Enthusiasm for Gold Washing" from California Star, 1848
Other Texts
Oakland Museum of California's Gold Rush ExhibitSacramento Bee's 150th Anniversary of the Gold Rush
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
PBS- American Experience: The Gold Rush
California State Library- Gold Rush